The Real Deal New York

Benchmark asking $65M for East Village rental

Jordan Vogel and Aaron Feldman with 55 Third Avenue in the East Village

Benchmark Real Estate Group is once again looking to cash out on one of its Manhattan multifamily properties.

The Soho-based investment firm led by Jordan Vogel and Aaron Feldman is asking $65 million for the 54-unit residential component of 55 Third Avenue, a mixed-use building it bought a little more than two years ago and proceeded to overhaul.

Vogel and Feldman, who couldn’t be reached for comment, bought the property in late 2013 for $57 million and then sold off the retail portion as a condo.

As part of a gut renovation of the residential portion, the company constructed a three-story building on an adjacent vacant lot that now serves as a lobby and amenity space including a fitness center, yoga/meditation room and massage room. The overhaul included an upgrade to the exterior façade and windows and the addition of condo-like features to the apartments.

The building, which sits between East 10th and 11th streets, has more than 53,000 square feet of residential space, not counting the 4,000-square-foot addition.

Rents for the 37 one-bedroom apartments average $5,600 a month, while the nine two-bedrooms and eight studios average $7,500 and $3,600 per month, respectively.

Mark DeLillo and Jeffrey Bastow at BlueGate Partners have been retained to market the exclusive.

Benchmark, founded in 2009, launched a fund in 2014 aimed at buying value-add mixed-use and multifamily buildings. Recently, though, the company has been on a selling spree, selling off $213 million worth of real estate in a little over a year.

Last March, the company sold a 94-unit Gramercy Park building to New York University for $88 million, and in November cashed out on pair of Chelsea rentals to the tune of $27 million.